Save Money and Rekey Instead of Changing Your Locks

Have you been considering changing your locks? This is probably the case if you’ve recently moved into a new place, had to fire an employee, lost your keys or had a roommate move out. However, changing your locks isn’t the only option—there’s actually another cheaper, better option available, and that is rekeying your existing locks.

If you own a type of property that requires frequent key changes (such as a multifamily apartment building or a commercial building), then you’ll find rekeying will save you a lot of money over changing the locks. Here’s what you should know about the process—and remember that Toledo Lock & Key LLC can help with Kwikset rekeys in Toledo, OH!

What’s involved with rekeying versus changing locks?

If you don’t know much about locksmithing, you might think “rekeying” is just another word for changing the locks. However, there are some important differences to be aware of.

Rekeying a lock involves changing the working key of the lock to be a different key, without actually swapping out the lock mechanism itself. This means you keep the same lock in place, but the old keys that operated it will no longer work.

To do this, a locksmith will take apart the lock and replace a few of the parts (key pins/tumblers), and the new configuration of the lock components will correspond to a new set of keys. Compare this to changing out a lock, in which you replace the entire mechanism and get new keys.

While this process might sound a bit complicated, it’s actually quite simple for professional locksmiths and takes mere minutes to accomplish if they have the right tools. Of course, the locksmith has to have a matching key to be able to rekey the lock—otherwise, the only option may be to pick the lock open, which might add some extra expense to the job. If you’ve lost your keys, that means you might have some added complications if you wish to rekey the lock instead of replace it.

Some of the biggest benefits of this process include:

• Cost: You can save quite a bit of money by rekeying instead of changing the locks entirely. The key pins in the locks are quite inexpensive, and when you’re just replacing a few of the pins rather than the entire locking mechanism, you’ll only be charged for the labor and not for the parts. And again, if you own a building where you’re frequently changing out keys, that means you’ll see some big savings over time.
• Simplicity: The process of rekeying is quick and simple. It neither helps nor hurts the lock’s security, so you don’t have to take that into consideration—it’s just a simpler, cheaper way of accomplishing the same thing as changing the locks.
• Matching keys: Rekeying is also beneficial if you want to match more than one lock to the same key. If you have several locks that require different keys in your home, rekeying the locks so you can use one key for all of them can be a cheap and effective way of giving you that convenience.

For more information about the cost to rekey locks in Toledo, OH, contact Toledo Lock & Key LLC today.

Categorised in: Rekey Locks

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